On January 22, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted final approval of a settlement in which Levi & Korsinsky, LLP, representing the class of investors in QuantumScape Corp. (NYSE: QS), secured a settlement fund of $47.5 million. The settlement resolves claims that QuantumScape misled the public about its prototype battery during its December 8, 2020 Solid-State Battery Showcase and in subsequent public statements. The Class Period for this action ran from QuantumScape’s IPO via a de-SPAC transaction on November 27, 2020 through April 14, 2021.

The Final Approval Order and other settlement documents may be found here.

On April 10, 2024, Justice Andrew Borrok of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, Commercial Division, Part 53, granted final approval of the $24.6 million class action settlement reached in the case captioned Dan Kohl v. Loma Negra Industrial Argentina Sociedad Argentina, Index No. 653114/2018 (Sup. Ct., N.Y. Cty.).  Lead Plaintiff and Class Representative Dan Kohl alleged that Defendants made materially false, misleading or incomplete statements in the Offering Documents for Loma Negra’s November 2017 IPO concerning two issues:  (i) bribery and other corruption-related wrongdoing by Loma’s parent, Camargo Corrêa S.A. (“Camargo”) (now known as Mover Participações S.A.), and Camargo’s construction subsidiary, Construções e Comércio Camargo Corrêa S.A. (“CCCC”); and (ii) the Argentine government’s cutbacks of funding for public works, from which Loma derived substantial revenues.  The Stipulation of Settlement and all relevant case documents can be found here.  Levi & Korsinsky are the Court-appointed Class Counsel.

Update Ferraro Family Foundation, Inc. and James L. Ferraro v. Corcept Therapeutics, Inc., et. al., Case No. 3:19-cv-01372-JD (N.D. Cal.):

A settlement has been reached and was preliminarily approved on January 4, 2024. The settlement provides for the payment of $14 million to eligible class members.  Lead plaintiff Ferraro Family Foundation, Inc. and James L. Ferraro alleged violations of §§ 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 based on the defendants’ alleged false and misleading statements concerning the off-label marketing practices of its “core” drug product, Korlym.

The hearing on the Motion for Final Approval is scheduled for June 6, 2024.

Recovered more than $24 million in excess compensation based on backdated stock option grants to executives and caused the company to implement substantial corporate governance reforms.

Obtained a $93 million increase in merger consideration – representing a 57% premium over the original deal price – and improved the deal terms by negotiating for a waiver of “don’t-ask-don’t-waive” standstill agreements that were precluding potential bidders from making a topping bid for the company.

The parties in the action captioned Parker v. Avril, et al., C.A. No. 2020-0280-PAF (D. Del.) entered into a stipulation of settlement on February 15, 2023. The settlement provides for a payment of $4.75 million to eligible class members and $4.75 million to Babcock. Lead plaintiff James Parker filed an action alleging that the Babcock board and the company’s controlling shareholders did not properly discharge their fiduciary duties in connection with the 2019 Rights Offering to the disadvantage of Babcock's minority shareholders. The Delaware Court of Chancery will hold a hearing on July 10, 2023 to approve the settlement.

A copy of the stipulation can be viewed here.

Update in the case: In re U. S. Steel Consolidated Cases, 2:17-cv-00579 (W.D. Penn.)

A settlement has been reached and was preliminarily approved on November 9, 2022. The settlement provides for the payment of $40 million to eligible class members.  Lead plaintiff Christakis Vrakas alleged violations of §§ 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 based on false and misleading misstatements that the company made that allegedly concealed from shareholders its decision to defer maintenance, repairs and capital spending on equipment which caused increasing unplanned outages and a reduction in production capacity.

The hearing on the Motion for Final Approval is scheduled for March 20, 2023.

On March 3, 2022, Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. granted the motion for final approval of the settlement in the case captioned In re Aqua Metals, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 4:17-cv-07142 (N.D. Cal.). A copy of the order can be viewed here.

The settlement provides for the payment of $7 million to eligible class members.  Lead plaintiffs Plymouth County Group, and Denis Taillefer alleged violations of §§ 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 based on false and misleading misstatements made by the company that allegedly concealed from shareholders that its AquaRefining technology never worked during the Class Period because of significant unresolved and pervasive problems.

The lawsuit captioned Kirkland, et al. v. WideOpenWest, Inc., et al., Index No. 653248/2018 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York: Commercial Division was ordered settled on January 20, 2022.

The settlement provides for the payment of $7.025 million to eligible class members. Lead plaintiffs Jeff Kirkland, Anthony Fiore and Employee’s Retirement System of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority alleged violations of §§11, 12, and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 based on false and misleading misstatements that the company made in its registration statement that allegedly concealed from shareholders the nature and quality of its services and the loss of customers.

On May 13, 2021, the Honorable John G. Koeltl signed a final order granting the final approval of the class action settlement in the case captioned In re Helios and Matheson Analytics, Inc. Securities Litigation, Case No. 1:18-cv-06965-JGK (S.D.N.Y.).

The settlement, which received preliminary approval on December 23, 2020, provides for the payment of $8.25 million to eligible class members.  Lead plaintiffs George Hurst, Marcus Washington, Daniel Mercer, Juan Taveras, and Amit Katiyar alleged violations of §§ 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 based on false and misleading misstatements made by the company that allegedly concealed from shareholders that its MoviePass business was not viable.

On March 17, 2021, the Honorable M. James Lorenz signed an order granting final approval of the settlement in the case captioned In re Illumina Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 3:16-cv-3044-L-MSB (S.D. Cal.). A copy of the order can be viewed here.

The settlement provided for the payment of $13.85 million to eligible class members.  Plaintiffs alleged violations of §§ 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 based on false and misleading misstatements made by the company concerning sales of its traditional “HiSeq” sequencing instrument. 

On February 3, 2021, the Honorable Mary Kay Vyskocil signed an order of final judgment and dismissal in the case captioned In re Avon Products, Inc. Securities Litigation, 19-cv-01420-MKV (S.D.N.Y).

The settlement in this case was preliminarily approved on August 31, 2020, and a copy of that order is available here.

The settlement provided for the payment of $14.5 million to eligible class members.  Lead Plaintiff Holly Ngo alleged violations of §§ 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 based on false and misleading misstatements made by the company that allegedly concealed from shareholders that it had loosened its credit standards for the recruitment of new representatives in Brazil.

As a member of Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, we won a landmark ruling from the Delaware Court of Chancery establishing a unified standard for assessing the rights of shareholders in the context of freeze-out transactions, which ultimately led to a recovery of over $42.7 million for shareholders.

Selected from a crowded field as Co-Lead Counsel, we achieved a landmark $79 million common fund settlement for the benefit of E*Trade's shareholders in an action relating to the misrepresentation of the risk associated with E*Trade’s investment in subprime mortgage-backed securities.

In re Google Inc. Class C Shareholder Litigation resulted in a payment of $522 million to shareholders and overall benefit of over $3 billion to Google’s minority shareholders.

Achieved a $36.5 million common fund settlement for former stockholders of Bluegreen Corp. in the wake of a majority shareholder buyout, representing a 25% increase in total consideration to the minority shareholders.